Pacific Science Center

Bringing science to life.

PacSci-Doku: “Zika Killer”

By Dennis Schatz – Senior Advisor

Do you Sudoku? It’s one of the hottest number games around! Well, here’s a twist we think you’ll love. We call it PacSci-Doku. Can you guess why? Here’s how it works. Instead of filling in the blanks with numbers, we use letters. Hidden in one of the columns or rows is the answer to a science question. You’ll find information about the answer on the answer tab below.

The question in this edition is:

What may be the solution to the Zika Virus?

To find the answer, complete this PacSci-Doku using the following nine letters:

I O o Q U n M T S

Puzzle Difficulty: Hard

The Answer

The question in this edition is:

What may be the solution to the Zika Virus?

The answer: Mosquito

Genetically modifying the mosquito that transmits the Zika virus may be the solution to the epidemic that causes microcephaly in children born to mothers who had the virus during their pregnancy. Male mosquitoes do not bite, so they are the ones genetically modified. They mate with female mosquitoes and pass along the modified genes that produce offspring that never mature. Small scale test in several areas of the world – Cayman Islands, Panama and Brazil – have reduced the mosquito population by as much as 99 percent. Read more about eradicating the Zika virus with genetically modified mosquitoes.